Internet of Things Presents Unmanageable Security Risks According to Report

01/26/2017 |

Botnets were proven to be a key factor in the largest DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack ever recorded last year

A report from Juniper Research identified that a consumer IoT (Internet of Things) installed base will reach over 15 billion units by 2021, an increase of 120% over 2016, all of which are heading toward unmanageable cybersecurity risks created by botnets in excess of 1 million units.

Juniper warns that such a mass scale of IOT connectivity will create tremendous problems unless preventative action is taken. The reports deal with how IoT botnets will be just one of many things of risk. Botnets were proven to be a key factor in the largest DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack ever recorded last year. The prediction from Juniper claims that that botnets will be used for more malicious purposes in future, potentially impacting consumer, industrial and public services markets.

“Attacks such as those on Dyn last October can be viewed as proof of concepts," says the author of the whitepaper, Steffen Sorrell. “In the medium-term, botnets will be used far more creatively – not only to disrupt services, but also to create a distraction enabling multi-pronged attacks aimed at data theft or physical asset disruption.”